Calling Cougars?

[HillHound]

Yep you got the one on there you were trying to.

[UBA]

I was lucky enough to get to see two cats chirping and whistling back and forth for about a half hour. I'm guessing it was a mating deal since they were also purring and rubbing thier heads on each other.  It's a hard sound to describe and scary once u realize u have heard that noise before and just thought it was a bird.

[KFhunter]

plopping this here so I can watch later

This was a fun video to tag along on

[JakeLand]

Yesterday I did 4 different sets with a foxpro furry and nothing came in (visually) but hiking into my 3rd setup I seen thee biggest blacktail buck I’ve seen he dwarfs what’s on my walls and he wasn’t 300 yards from my setup that I  was running the caller at

[TVHunts]

That is an awesome video KFHunter!  Thanks for posting it 

[skagitsteel]

Yesterday I did 4 different sets with a foxpro furry and nothing came in (visually) but hiking into my 3rd setup I seen thee biggest blacktail buck I’ve seen he dwarfs what’s on my walls and he wasn’t 300 yards from my setup that I  was running the caller at

We’re you calling on fresh tracks or sign? I’ve been trying to kill a cat near my house for 2 years but he just had too big of a range.  Can’t confidently say he’s ever been in earshot of my caller.  Comes by about once every 6 weeks.  When conditions are right I’m going to drive some roads and call from a fresh set of tracks

[JakeLand]

Yesterday I did 4 different sets with a foxpro furry and nothing came in (visually) but hiking into my 3rd setup I seen thee biggest blacktail buck I’ve seen he dwarfs what’s on my walls and he wasn’t 300 yards from my setup that I  was running the caller at

We’re you calling on fresh tracks or sign? I’ve been trying to kill a cat near my house for 2 years but he just had too big of a range.  Can’t confidently say he’s ever been in earshot of my caller.  Comes by about once every 6 weeks.  When conditions are right I’m going to drive some roads and call from a fresh set of tracks

over the last couple years there has been several kills here and tracks ! I’m going to keep hitting this area as I know he frequently comes through plus the amount of deer in the area year round I think is a plus

[7t9cobra]

I would agree with bango skank and Mahicas about them slinking in,  but not the part about them just strolling in after playing a cougar vocal. 

Hasn't happened to me yet, I have the rainshadow whistle, I have all the RS cougar vocals and chirps...made my own, I got prolly 20 lion vocals and I studied what each is for and have yet to see a cougar "stroll in"   

I've done big call sessions starting with a coyote locator, fawn bleats, coyote barks, distressed doe, more coyote barks, which often gets does running around all crazy...
I get everything quiet then do cougar chirps/whistles and nada, nothing ever just "strolls in" like they own the place.  I pretty much end all my calling sessions with cougar vocals.  I will say I've had them chirp back twice now, but didn't come in.  One was going along a big long rock rim chirping, I chirp back, but it didn't come in and it got too dark eventually, I was there a long time all excited    I've had a few chirp back now that didn't come in

Now I prefer to locate their sneak routes and set up to get them sneaking in or parking on their rumps to take a peak at whats going on,  so I sit above the call on vantages
I wish I had more range on the foxpro, but I got an older one   CS24B

I have called in several cats. Only 2 of which I can prove. The first one was out of season. I called it in during a coyote stand. It came in unbelievably stealthy. It came in through a clear cut and I never saw it until it got directly between me and my caller. I was sitting ontop of a stump and had a good view of the place. I started playing RS cougar vocals and it jumped ontop of a stump and sat down. It ended up sitting in the middle of a clear cut. wide open area. it sat down and I have pics of it with its mouth open just sitting there. It also vocalized several times.
    My second cat I shot at 16 yards. A big tom. He strolled right in ontop of a log. I was using RS ougar vocals and a couple short foxpro vocals. He walked in without a worry in the world. He was 100% focused on where he heard the sound coming from and didn't see me sitting off to his left. Vocals absolutely can make them stroll right in. Of course it won't work every time, because there are too many variables to predict. But it can and does work. I have personally watched the attitude change from stealthy sneaking in during distress, to lounging around in the sun and chatting like a house cat after vocals. Both of my stories and pics are on the RS page. RS14 and RS17.

[jasnt]

I use rainshadows call and have gotten a lot of vocal responses.  Never had one walk in like it owned the place

[KFhunter]

I use rainshadows call and have gotten a lot of vocal responses.  Never had one walk in like it owned the place

You ain't the only one

Hasn't happened to me yet, I have the rainshadow whistle, I have all the RS cougar vocals and chirps...made my own, I got prolly 20 lion vocals and I studied what each is for and have yet to see a cougar "stroll in"   

[emskou]

Yesterday I did 4 different sets with a foxpro furry and nothing came in (visually) but hiking into my 3rd setup I seen thee biggest blacktail buck I’ve seen he dwarfs what’s on my walls and he wasn’t 300 yards from my setup that I  was running the caller at

I'm going to need gps coordinates of this buck....I'm still trying to fill my late tag 

[dilleytech]

Is there any consensus on what the best distress call is? Rabbit or deer for example?

[KFhunter]

I think the call is much less important than being at the right place at the right time. 

It's hard to answer that, as calling in a cougar is a rare occurrence.   I've had them come into dying rabbit being blasted at nearly full volume and a decoy wagging around, but it hung up and I didn't see it until I quit my stand and stood up, then it slunk off and I couldn't get on it. 

I've had them come in numerous times elk hunting, blowing a soft cow call occasionally.  I wasn't cougar hunting, but they came none the less, and close!

so IMO I think they'll come in if they want too, that is *IF* they hear it.   If one's napping 100 yards from a fresh kill I'm not sure anything will get it to come, maybe some cougar vocals might get it up, I don't know.

At the top of this forum section there's a sticky thread about this with a lot of reading, it's 11 pages and that's after I've deleted most of the cougar women references that pop up every stinking time there's a cougar thread. 

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,185537.0.html

[7t9cobra]

I think the call is much less important than being at the right place at the right time. 

It's hard to answer that, as calling in a cougar is a rare occurrence.   I've had them come into dying rabbit being blasted at nearly full volume and a decoy wagging around, but it hung up and I didn't see it until I quit my stand and stood up, then it slunk off and I couldn't get on it. 

I've had them come in numerous times elk hunting, blowing a soft cow call occasionally.  I wasn't cougar hunting, but they came none the less, and close!

so IMO I think they'll come in if they want too, that is *IF* they hear it.   If one's napping 100 yards from a fresh kill I'm not sure anything will get it to come, maybe some cougar vocals might get it up, I don't know.

At the top of this forum section there's a sticky thread about this with a lot of reading, it's 11 pages and that's after I've deleted most of the cougar women references that pop up every stinking time there's a cougar thread. 

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,185537.0.html

I agree. location is everything. I don't think the type of distress matters that much. When I called the first cat in, I was using ranting redbird and baby cottontail. It came in at 24 minutes. When I called the second one in, I was using elk calf distress, blacktail fawn distress, blacktail doe distress, raccoon fight then switch ed to cougar vocals after around 10-15 minutes. It came in around 26 minutes. I think as long as it's loud and sounds interesting and convincing to the cat it really doesn't matter.

[jasnt]

I use rainshadows call and have gotten a lot of vocal responses.  Never had one walk in like it owned the place

You ain't the only one

Hasn't happened to me yet, I have the rainshadow whistle, I have all the RS cougar vocals and chirps...made my own, I got prolly 20 lion vocals and I studied what each is for and have yet to see a cougar "stroll in"   

i lied, my very first call in I had a cougar come walking right in to the wide open.  Was elk hunting 113.  Had been playing Radom elk sounds and spotted a cougar half mile away sitting on a burm over looking the valley between us.  Was the year I killed my first cougar.   It dropped in the valley and I figured it was the last I seen of it.    20 min later it was right below me.  Was already tagged out so I yelled at it and it ran off.